I'm Not Alone: The Journey
by AirGirl Phantom
Summary: Follow the gang's adventures as they meet a boy with a secret, meet a girl with an unusual power, find out the true meaning of pain, and maybe even gain a new ally. Small hints of many pairings. ON INDEFINITE HIATUS! See last author's note for more info.
1. A Prophecy is Made

**Avatar: The Last Airbender**

**I'm Not Alone: The Journey  
**

Chapter 1: A Prophecy is Made

"Kyoshi… Kyoshi, are you alright?"

10-year-old Kyoshi was in her room, sitting on her bed, with a blank look on her face. Her mother had just walked in, and was concerned.

"Kyoshi… honey, are you okay?" she repeated to her daughter.

Suddenly, something very strange happened. Kyoshi's eyes began to glow a bright whitish blue. And before her mother could react, Kyoshi, her voice accompanied by hundreds of others, began to speak:

"Hundreds of years from now, there will be a great war, between the Fire Nation and the rest of the world. During the majority of this war, the Avatar will not be present.

"After the war has been raging for one hundred years, and the Fire Nation nearing victory, the Avatar will return. He will be but a young boy, but the world's fate will rest in his hands, thus, a great burden will lie on his shoulders.

"He will not be able to defeat the Fire Nation or the Fire Lord by himself. But he won't be alone. Not only will he have two friends, but also, two others will be with him, and they will be the key to winning the war. These two will be known as the Avatar's Assistants…"

And, with that, Kyoshi's eyes faded, and she fell backwards on her bed in a dead faint. Her mother hurriedly scooped her up and ran for help. Little did she know that her daughter had just foretold the distant future all too truthfully…

It was a beautiful, if gusty, early winter day, and a lone flying bison was soaring through the sky.

On it, a teenaged girl looked down on the beautiful, blue-green sea, and breathed in the soothing ocean air that she loved so. She looked up at the almost cerulean sky that had only scarce splotches of white, fluffy cloud tainting it.

The girl was somewhat tall for her age of 14, and had tan skin, with her dark brown hair in a long braid that ended just below her waist. Her clothing looked like a robe-like dress. It was mostly blue, and the edges were outlined in white. She also wore navy pants under the robe-like dress. A stone bearing the Water Tribe's symbol laid on her collarbone, strung around her neck on a deep blue ribbon. And her eyes were the purest blue you've ever seen; it was almost magical how blue they were…

She glanced around at her companions: two boys, one in his mid-teens, and the other a few years younger. The younger boy was sitting on the head of the flying bison, steering.

Unlike most people those days, he was bald, and had a light blue arrow tattooed on his forehead, which continued over his head and down his neck, where the girl knew it branched off into 4 separate parts – one for each of his limbs – and ended on his hands and feet. His clothes were yellow, red-orange, and brown, and his eyes were gray; not a cold, steely gray, but dark and warm. He was 12 years old.

The other boy, who was sitting next to the girl in a saddle on the bison's back, was her brother. Like herself, his skin was tan, his eyes were blue, and he was reasonably tall for his age (15). His clothes were similar to hers, except they were a bit shorter at the bottom. A large amount of his head was shaved, with only a strip of brown hair a few inches wide left, and it was pulled back into a rather short ponytail. And, right then, he had a pained expression on his face.

"Awww… what's the matter, Sokka? Hungry?" the girl teased him.

"Well, duh! The last time we ate must've been a really long time ago!" exclaimed the teenaged boy.

"Don't you mean two hours ago, Sokka?" said the young boy in front, turning around to face the others.

"No, Aang, I meant what I said!"

"There's a first," muttered the girl, purposely letting the two boys hear her. Apparently, this comment got on Sokka's nerves, because he started towards her angrily, saying "Katara!" angrily. This didn't scare her though. She uncapped the canteen of water that she always carried around with her, and with one swift, fluid movement of her arms, the water was suspended over Sokka's head.

"Don't even _think_ of trying anything," she said smugly. Her brother, grudgingly acknowledging defeat, sat down again, and Aang turned back around, sensing the argument was over. The girl, Katara, returned the water to her canteen with a sweep of her arms.

These three children were on a quest for the North Pole. Aang, the younger boy, needed to learn Waterbending there. You might be wondering why. Well, he was the Avatar. And not just any Avatar; he was the Avatar during the Great Fire War between the Fire Nation and the rest of the world. It was his duty to master all four bending disciplines, and it was his destiny to confront the Fire Lord in a final battle for the fate of the world. To add even more weight to the 12-year-old Avatar's burden, he had to do it all by summer's end.

But Katara and Sokka, two siblings from the South Pole Water Tribe, journeyed with him, and gave him support. The three of them were the best of friends, and traveled together on a flying bison named Appa. Additionally, Aang had a pet lemur named Momo. Together, they considered themselves a family, a strange family, but a family nevertheless. Katara and Sokka didn't have very many blood relatives left, and Aang, to the best of his knowledge, had none whatsoever, the reason being that he was the last Airbender.

Later that night, the three adolescents were camped in a clearing in a vast forest. Aang and Sokka were sleeping peacefully (_especially_ Sokka, who was so deeply asleep that he could have been mistaken as dead). But Katara's slumber was being interrupted by a dream:

_Appa was flying through the air with Aang, Katara, and Sokka on his back. Katara was standing up, trying to spot land amidst the calm sea._

_Suddenly, Katara felt something fly into her eye, and instinctively reached up to rub it out. Unfortunately, she ended up poking herself in the eye instead. The sudden pain shocked her enough that she stumbled forward, tripping over one of their supply bags. Katara expected to land on the saddle, until she opened her eyes and found herself falling off of Appa! _

_She began to scream for help, but she needn't have. Aang and Sokka had noticed her fall. Aang quickly took action and formed a dense cloud of air below her. Katara landed in it and abruptly stopped screaming. She looked up at Aang and smiled._

_"Thanks Aang," she said gratefully._

_But no sooner were the words out of her mouth, Aang disappeared into thin air. Without its bender, the cloud of air below Katara decondensed, and she continued her freefall, screaming._

_As she approached the surface of the water, she shut her eyes tightly, bracing herself for impact. Then..._

Katara woke up with a start, breating heavily and staring upwards. It was a beautiful sight: the trees in the forest surrounding the campsite framed a patch of starry sky.

"It was just a dream Katara," she whispered to herself reassuringly, "Just a dream."

Then, she closed her eyes and rolled onto her side, quickly falling back to sleep. Too bad she didn't hear the faint noise coming from the edge of their campsite. It was especially unfortunate because that noise just happened to be Aang, struggling violently against the ropes that bound him, as he was dragged from the clearing by Firebenders.

Dun dun dun! So, do you guys like it? It's my very first fanfic! Please review if you have anything to say! Thanks in advance!


	2. Aang's Idea

**A/N**: Sorry about that last chapter. There weren't any page breaks. If anyone knows how to put in a page break, please let me know! Then, sit back and enjoy chapter 2! Oh, BTW, this story takes place after eppie 16. I know it's kinda old, but I started writing this back in August!

**Chapter 2: Pain Beyond Pain**

"You fools! The girl could've discovered us!" Admiral Zhao yelled at his men.

Zhao and about fifty of his soldiers were stationed in a clearing in a forest, about two miles away from the campsite where they had captured the Avatar.

"It – it wasn't our fault, sir!" began one of the (silently) cowering soldiers. "The boy was fidgeting… and kicking us –!"

"I don't need to hear your lousy excuses!" the angry Admiral bellowed. The soldier immediately fell silent, and lowered his gaze.

Zhao, still fuming, turned his head to glance at the young Avatar. He was bound from his shoulders to his ankles by ropes to a large tree. Over his mouth was a thick piece of cloth, which served to keep him quiet.

Zhao smirked; his plan was completely flawless. The Avatar's friends (being the idiots they were) would assume that he was imprisoned on a Fire Navy ship, headed for the Fire Nation. They would stumble right into the ingenious trap he had set up.

Then, he would take the Avatar to the Fire Lord (he'd most likely dispose of the two Water Tribe peasants). He would be honored, and Zuko would be banished for good (although Zhao knew he would be anyway). It was perfect.

That is, if the masked warrior didn't return and save the Avatar again, like he had about a week ago. That had been one of the most humiliating moments in Zhao's career in the Fire Navy. Through teamwork and skill, both the Avatar and the warrior had escaped.

But Zhao was going to make sure it didn't happen again. He was going to temporarily prevent the Avatar from using the majority of his bending abilities.

Normal people would not do what Zhao was about to do to a 12-year-old boy. No, they would think it was too cruel (**A/N**: but Zhao's not exactly what you'd call "normal"… don't tell him I said that). But Zhao always did what was necessary, and furthermore, he enjoyed harming the people he hated.

"Men, untie the Avatar from the tree. It's time."

The soldiers, nodding their heads, complied with the Admiral's command. As they did, Zhao walked over to one particular soldier, who was sitting down on a log with his head in his hands, obviously deep in thought.

"You know what to do, Jiro."

The soldier, recognizing his superior's voice, immediately stood up and saluted. "Y-yes, sir."

Zhao happened to know that this particular soldier was a bit soft. "Just like Zuko" was his personal way of describing it. The soldier, Jiro, would need toughening up if he wanted to remain a soldier.

"Your swords, Jiro," the Admiral commanded the soldier with a slight hint of impatience in his voice.

Jiro unsheathed a pair of finely crafted Fire Nation swords, and walked hesitantly to the center of the clearing. The Avatar was there, being held in place by two soldiers, still gagged, with his ankles and wrists bound.

At the sight of the sharp weapons, a look of terror crossed his face. As Jiro raised the swords, the young Airbender squeezed his eyes shut.

Then, there was a soft _whoosh_. A yell escaped from between the boy's lips before he passed out from the extreme pain.

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Katara was the first up. She woke up just as the sun was rising, as she always did. But something seemed different that morning. It was... quiet, and tranquil. There was some lack of excitement, something missing...

"Sokka, where's Aang?" she exclaimed in realization to her brother, who was just waking up. At first, he didn't quite process the question properly.

"Huh? What?" he replied sleepily, stifling a yawn.

"I said: WHERE IS AANG!"

"Oh, uhh... I'm not sure," Sokka said, sounding more alert.

"Oh no! Aang! Aang, where are you?" Katara cried out, but to no avail (**A/N**: duh.)

"We'd better go look for him. Quick, let's pack up camp," said Sokka with a slight hint of panic in his voice as he immediatly sat up, miraculously relieved of his sleepiness. "He's probably headed for the Fire Nation right now."

As Katara rushed around, packing things into bags, she couldn't help but think, _Aang, please be okay!_

How very wrong she was.

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Aang awoke, again bound to the tree, in immense pain. It was pain like he had never experienced before. It hurt so much that he could only barely figure out that it was coming from his arms. They were throbbing painfully, and he could feel that he was weaker than usual. He knew he'd probably lost quite a bit of blood.

He tried to distract himself by thinking about how he could escape from Zhao.

_Okay, I'm tied to a tree, I can't move, I'm gagged, and I'm injured; by the feel of it, I'm -_oww_- seriously__ injured. And Katara and Sokka most likely don't know where I am. What can I do that doesn't require me to physically do anything? Hmmm..._

Aang thought and thought. He came up with many ideas, but rejected them all as impossible in his current state.

_I've got nothing. If only I could go to the Spirit World and ask Avatar Roku what to -- hold on! That's it! In the Spirit World, I only need my spirit, not my body! And when I get into the Spirit World, I can go find our campsite! (Hopefully, Sokka and Katara haven't left yet...) The only thing I have to do is figure out how to get into... the Spirit World... yeah... How am I gonna do that? Last time, I only got in accidentally. Maybe, if I just concentrate really hard..._

And so he did. Aang concentrated with all his might on entering the Spirit World. (**A/N**: For the sake of this story, let's assume that Aang will remain in the real world, but as a spirit, instead of going into that weird other world like in the season finale.) And suddenly, a strange tingling shot through his body, and he felt a sudden burst of unfathomable insight. (A/N: Got a dictionary on ya? lol!)

And it only got stranger from there. He wasn't conscious when he had traveled to the Spirit World before, so he didn't know what it felt like. It was a very alien sensation indeed; the feeling of his spirit separating from his body; immortal separating from mortal. It was as if Aang's spirit was pouring out of him.

When his spirit was completely separated from his body, Aang noticed that his arms no longer hurt, and for that he was grateful. He wasted no time, however. He quickly sped off in the direction that the soldiers' footprints came from, knowing that they would lead him to the campsite.

(Normal/Omniscient POV)

When the Avatar's eyes and tattooes began glowing, the vast majority of Zhao's soldiers began panicking. They had never seen him like that before. But Zhao didn't worry. As long as the Avatar was not escaping, he couldn't care less about what he looked like.

Little did the Admiral know that Aang's spirit was speeding through the forest, going to seek help from his friends.


	3. A Horrifying Sight

**gasp I forgot this stoopid thing. Disclaimer: Yep, I own Avatar. And you know what else? My shoes are made of gold, h3ll has accumulated a foot of snow, and the Germans don't want togo to war!**

**A/N: I sooo sorry peoples; it's been a while! My friend, the last kiwi, might have told some of you I wouldn't be updating for a while. This is because I got a new computer and it came with some sort of spyware, and I couldn't log in. Well, I hope this chapter will be worth the wait!

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**

Sokka stomped back into the packed up camp angrily muttering to himself.

"...can't believe... made me go on a stupid search in the forest... obviously isn't there...on a Fire Navy ship... waste of time... hmph!"

"Oh, get over it Sokka! Really, what if Aang _was_ still in the forest? How would you feel if we had _left him here_?" Katara berated her brother, using anger to hide some of her sadness.

Silence greeted her little monologue. She sighed. They needed to get going if they ever wanted to rescue Aang in time. Sokka got onto Appa via the bison's long, furry tail. Katara began to follow him, until she felt something strange. She felt as if someone was watching them. She quickly whipped her head around, searched the area, but found nothing.

"Is... is someone there?" Katara said timidly.

"Oh, please! Katara, there's no one there! Let's go already!" exclaimed Sokka impatiently. But Katara doubted her brother's words. She _knew_ someone was there; she could feel a presence...

_**"Katara!"**_

"What?" the Waterbender said, annoyed, assuming it was her brother that had called her name.

"What? I didn't say anything!"

_**"Katara!"**_

"Then how do you explain that voice?" she argued.

"What voice? I didn't hear anything. And neither did Momo or Appa. Right guys?" Sokka confirmed his statement with the bison and the lemur. Appa growled and Momo purred (or whatever sound he makes) in agreement.

**_"Katara! Katara, it's me, Aang!"_**

"What? Aang? Where are you?" Katara inquired what seemed to be nothing. But she received a reply:

**_"You can't see me; I'm in the Spirit World."_**

"Oh," Katara said much less frightened now, "How'd you get into the Spirit World? You said that last time you got in on accident!"

**_"Well... I'm really not that sure... I guess I just... concentrated..."_**

"And why can't Sokka hear you, too?"

**_"I'm pretty sure that I'm projecting my words into your mind. That's why only you can hear me."_**

And indeed, on the way to the campsite, Aang had been thinking about how he could communicate with his friends. He had finally come to a conclusion: since Roku's dragon was able to show him pictures (complete with sounds), he should've been able to project sounds and things like that into someone's mind as well.

Aang would've talked to Sokka too, but he was afraid that Sokka might think he'd gone insane; hearing voices in his head.

**_"Anyway, I came to tell you that I AM still in this forest."_**

Katara smirked. Sokka had been wrong the whole time!

**_"Zhao's captured me, and I'm tied to a tree about a mile or two east of here."_**

"Alright, then. Hold on Aang. We're going to come save you." she replied determinedly.

**_"Wait... Katara? There's one more thing. Zhao... I... he... well..." _**Aang trailed off hesitantly.

"What is it?" Katara questioned slowly, not sure she wanted to hear his answer.

_**"I'm... I'm hurt. Badly. I don't know exactly what it is. I just know that it's my arms, and it hurts alot. Well, it doesn't hurt in the Spirit World, but as soon as I get back to my body... I don't think I'll be able to use most of my bending. So I'll basically be useless when you guys come..."**_

Now, Aang didn't sound like the brave, optimistic boy she knew. He sounded like the young, scared, and sad boy he probably would've been more like if he wasn't the Avatar.

Katara felt tears welling up in her eyes. Aang was hurt!

"Don't worry Aang... we're coming to save you! Everything's gonna be alright..." the Waterbender said reassuringly as a solitary tearstreaked down her face. She wiped it away quickly, though.

**_"Then bye... and good luck."_** Aang said in parting.With that, Katara felt the presence leave the clearing.

* * *

Sokka looked on in amusement as his sister had a very animated conversation with thin air. He didn't bother listening to the conversation. So, when Katara turned to him and announced that Aang was indeed in the forest (with a slight trace of tears in her eyes), it was quite a shock. 

"What? How do you know?" Sokka exclaimed disbelievingly.

"Because, genius, Aang was just here, in the Spirit World!" Katara snapped back. "Come on, let's go!"

Sokka hopped off of Appa with Momo perched on his shoulder. Katara grabbed his wrist and started pulling him through the trees, following the foootsteps she could only assume to be from the Firebenders who took Aang.

"Wait, Katara! This is _Zhao _we're talking about here!"

"Your point being...?" Katara replied impatiently.

"My point is that he has, like, a billion soldiers! Don't you think we'll need backup?"

"Yes, but this is an emergency! We don't have time! We need to rescue him as soon as possible!"

"But --"

Katara shot Sokka a nasty glare.

_If looks could kill, _thought Sokka as Katara continued pulling him along, s_he'd be dragging a dead weight._

_

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_

The Avatar's eyes and arrows stopped glowing after about half an hour. But as soon as they did, they squeezed shut. It was most likely from the pain, Zhao concluded. And of course, seeing as one of the Admiral's favorite things to do was add insult to injury...

"Where's your little masked friend now, Avatar?"

The young boy looked up at him with eyes that were so full of hate, it almost startled Zhao. Then, the Avatar directed his gaze to the ground, with his hate almost completely smothered by pain. Admiral Zhao smirked. His plan was definitely working.

* * *

Aang closed his eyes again, willing himself to think happy thoughts. That's when he heard the smallest rustle in the surrounding forest. It was so miniscule that, after sneaking a glance at Zhao, Aang found that the Admiral didn't even hear it. 

As Aang scanned the edges of the clearing, the rustling occured again, and he was able to locate the source of the sound. He was only slightly surprised to see Katara and Sokka crouched among the trees. His eyes lit up (no not literally) at the sight of his two friends.

Then, he saw Momo bounding away from them, in his general direction (obviously staying out of the clearing). It was obvious to him why.

"Face it, Avatar: You will not escape from me this time," said Zhao, almost happily.

Aang tried to say, "Yes, I will escape from you!" but because of his gag, it sounded more like, "Eth, e wolock gape rum oo!"

"What was that?" Admiral Zhao said mockingly.

The Airbender was sick of Zhao laughing at him by then. He took a deep breath (through his nose), then blew a fast stream of air out of his mouth. The gag, being relatively loosely tied, slipped off quite easily and fell to the ground.

"I said: I _will_ escape from you!"

He heard Momo's paws skittering behind him somewhere, and soon felt his ropes slacken as the winged lemur chewed and scratchedthrough them one by one. He winced as they brushed over his arms.

During the split second between Aang getting untied and the soldiers charging at him, Aang glanced at Katara and Sokka, only to see two deeply horrified faces. Horrified by his injuries.

* * *

There was a long, bloody, and apparently deep gash all the way down each of the Airbender's arms. Katara felt angry tears forming in her eyes. How could anyone do such a thing to a 12-year-old boy? 

Sokka was shocked as well, especially because Katara hadn't told him that Aang was hurt. But, then again, it didn't look like she had even known in the first place...

But then the two siblings saw that the soldiers were rushing toward Aang to tie him up again. They rushed out of their hiding spot and began knocking soldiers down immediatly. Aang even tried to pitch in, and blew a couple soldiers down (similarly to how he got the gag off).

But would the efforts of two teens and a partially disabled boy be enough to defeat over fifty well-trained soldiers?

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**A/N: So... I'm hoping that was satisfactory! Oh, and I'd like to thank my four reviewers: casui (who reviewed two times!), shmoo92, Aero-Dragon's-Sky, and sugar high water uma. Thank You! Oh, and I'd especially like to thank my friends (who none of you know, probably) for taking the time to read the first draft of my story and tell me whether it totally sucked: Elaina (who is also _the last kiwi_ on this site), Kerri, Jessica, Katarina, and Cheyanne.**

**Please, please, please review peoples! It means so much to me. And I'm smart. I've gotten five reviews, but there have been 55 hits on chapter one and 17 hits on chapter two. Seriously people, I don't care if you just write "I love your story! Keep going." I just like reviews! **

**Thank you!**


	4. Avoid, Evade, Elude, and Dodge

**A/N**: Hey peoples! I'm so incredibly sorry for keeping all of you waiting so long! But don't worry; after leaving this aside for three months, I finally have some inspiration to keep the story going! WOOHOO! However: I must warn you that updates may come somewhat slowly, seeing as I have two stories going, and a third on the way.

**So… Here's chapter four!

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**Avoid, Evade, Elude, and Dodge**

"Take this you hotheads!" Sokka cried out, flinging his boomerang into the throng of Firebenders. He smiled in satisfaction as it hit one soldier's metallic helmet, then ricocheted and collided with another, sending them both to the ground. But Sokka didn't wallow too long in the slight glory of his achievement; there were dozens more enemies to contend with.

As the warrior caught his boomerang, Katara used the water in the pouch slung over her shoulder to create a long rope of water, with which she tripped a soldier. Using the same stream of water, she slapped another Firebender across the face a few times.

Aang had quietly slipped into the cover of the surrounding trees. From his partially hidden position, he did his part in the battle by blowing down a few of the opposition. He tried very hard to disregard the pain in his arms, and he succeeded for the most part. Eventually, he started to feel slightly light-headed. Whether it was from blowing so much air or from blood loss, he didn't know…

Katara began looking around for Aang, hoping that she, him, and Sokka could run from the Firebenders. But he was nowhere to be seen. His attacks plainly came from nearby the clearing, but they always came from different directions, making it impossible to alert him of their retreat without the soldiers hearing it.

"Katara! Look out!" The Waterbender swiveled around to see a red-clad man sending fire her way. She quickly retrieved water from her canteen and held it out in front of her to quench the flames, but the force of the attack knocked her off her feet and onto her back. The Firebender approached her to attack again, but was struck down by Sokka's club. As the warrior helped his sister up, soldiers surrounded them.

"Oh, crud," Sokka mumbled.

Zhao came up to them, smiled nastily, and created fire in his hands. Then, he shot both flames at Katara and Sokka. Katara repeated what she had done before: with the little water she has left, she created a shield for her and Sokka. Again, it extinguished the flames, but the Water Tribe siblings were each thrown into a tree. They slumped down to the ground, apparently out cold.

"Katara! Sokka!" Aang exclaimed, running out from the trees and into the clearing. When all the Firebenders in the clearing turned and looked at him, he realized his mistake. "Uh… Hi?"

"Restrain him," Admiral Zhao commanded. Immediately, two men went over to the Avatar and grabbed his arms. He let out a short yelp of pain, and tears began to fill his eyes.

"You and your friends thought you could beat us?" Zhao said harshly. "Well, you thought wrong."

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Katara was hovering somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness when she heard Zhao say loudly, "Tie up the Avatar, then he can watch as we dispose of the peasants!" 

That's when something strange happened. The Waterbender could hear yells of fright. She could practically feel the terror in the air. But she couldn't stay awake any longer. Katara passed out just as the wind began to pick up.

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Out at sea, on a ship that had just left an Earth Kingdom port, was a girl. She was slightly out of breath, as if she had been running from someone just recently. The girl was in a seemingly unused room on the huge metal vessel. The only thing in it was a large steel chest, behind which she was now crouching. 

_Of all places to hide, I just **had **to pick a Fire Navy ship! _she thought in exasperation. Well, at least it had gotten her away from those soldiers who had recognized her. They would've taken her back to the Fire Nation, and she really didn't want to return there… No, not after what she'd been through.

Then, hearing footsteps outside the room, she immediately tensed. She hoped she wouldn't be found. After sprinting a mile or two through the town the ship had just departed from, she wasn't up for a fight. Unfortunately for her, the door to the room opened, and a pair of Fire Nation soldiers came in.

"Hey! What d'you think you're doing here?" exclaimed one of them. He had a gruff voice that suited his extremely muscular build, and he was at least 6 feet tall.

"You're going to have to come with us, miss," the other ordered sternly. This man wasn't as rude, or as tall, but she still knew him as the enemy.

The girl glared up at them, not wanting to go, fearing what she might encounter. But she got up anyway, and walked to the door. When the first soldier made to grab her arm, she jerked it away, giving him an annoyed, livid look.

The three of them walked down the halls of the ship in absolute silence. Soon, they had reached their destination. When the guards opened the door to what seemed to be the main room, the first thing she heard was a triumphant cry of "I win!" and someone else groaning in dismay.

As they walked in the door, the girl saw an old, stout man with a grin plastered on his face. He was scooping up a large pile of coins happily. She guessed that he was the one who she had first heard. In front of him, there was a circular board, and there was a man across from him, on the other side of the board. He held his head in his hands, obviously frustrated at his loss.

On the other side of the room was a teenaged boy with his head completely shaved except for a ponytail in the back. His head was down; he seemed to be reading something, or maybe looking at a map.

"Prince Zuko, sir!" thetaller soldier said. At this, the girl stiffened up suddenly. _It couldn't possibly be **him**, could it? _she thought, slightly nervous. But when the teenaged boy looked up, presumably at the sound of his name, the girl's worst fears were confirmed: it was, indeed, the one and only Prince Zuko, complete with a scar.

"What is it Lieutenant?" the Prince replied, not rudely, but not kindly either.

"We founding this girl snooping around on one of the lower decks," the soldier reported.

"What? I wasn't – " the aforementionedadolescent began.

"Be quiet, you!" Zuko cut her off. "What is your name, girl?" he then inquired harshly. "And why were you on my ship?"

She just glared at him, angry that even after all these years, he didn't recognize her, but he still treated her like dirt!

"Answer me, girl!" he yelled at her. She opened her mouth begrudgingly to tell the vulgar Prince her name, but decided against it, favoring an option that only just occurred to her.

"You want an answer?" the girl exclaimed wrathfully, yet with a slight smile. "Well, here it is!" As she said this, she brought up her leg and kicked it out towards Zuko's chest. It didn't quite reach the target, but flames appeared a few inches in front of her foot that shot at him.

Zuko only just dodged the stream of fire, and used every once of self-control he had left to not attack her in return. Scarcely suppressing the majority of his temper, he commanded bitterly, "Take her to the prison hold. NOW."

Then, for a split second, his eyes met hers, and he thought he felt a foreign presence in his mind. That feeling soon disappeared, and he turned his back on the girl. However much he despised thinking about it, there was something familiar about her…

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**A/N: **So... Does this kinda make up for taking so long? No, I guess it doesn't. I suppose the only thing I can promise you guys is that I WILL finish this story. Eventually...

Thanks to all my reviwers! And if anyone can guess what happened before Katara passed out, I'll give you a cyber-cookie!


	5. Insanely Important!

**Insanely Important Author's Note!**

**Sorry to disappoint everybody, but this isn't a chapter. I just have to explain why I haven't been updating.**

**First off, my computer (which I refer to as the upstairs computer) is freaking retarded. It won't stay fixed. IT KEEPS BREAKING! So I can't type it right now.**

**Secondly... This story is crap. You may all say otherwise, but you haven't seen the rough draft. I know I can do way better than this. So, here's what I'm doing right now:**

**1. I'm typing up the rough draft (it was handwritten)**

**2. I'm going to brutally rip it apart, making second, third, fourth, and maybe even fifth drafts.**

**3. Then, I will FINALLY repost it.**

**So... yeah. Sorry again. This may take awhile, especially with my retarded computer. For updates on my editing process, you can check my profile, under the "Current Fanfics" section. And I may need betas later on, so if anyone is willing to help me with step two (above), please let me know. Thanks!**


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